ISLAMABAD: Clouds brought darkness over twin cities more than half an hour before sunset followed by heavy rain on Monday.

The rains also brought down mercury level in the whole region.

The westerly wave is affecting upper parts of the country and may persist till Wednesday, the Met Office said.

The soft winds carrying clouds entered the country from the north and north west early Monday morning, resulting in rain and thunderstorm over most of central and northern parts of the country.

Starting from noon, Malakand, Hazara, Peshawar, Kohat, Mardan, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala and Sargodha divisions besides Islamabad, Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan received rainfall.

The dark clouds appeared in the capital at around 5pm and rain started at around 6pm.

Intermittent rain continued till late in the night with Islamabad receiving around 20mm rainfall within an hour.

The Met Office has predicted resumption of rain after sunset on Tuesday.

It also predicted several brief spells of rain during the current month, which will help the agriculture sector ahead of wheat sowing season in the barani areas of northern Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

However, most of Balochistan, Sindh and southern Punjab will remain dry during the coming days.

Meanwhile, more than 200 feeders tripped in the capital due to the rain.

However, the Iesco spokesman said electricity has been restored to 130 feeders while cold winds and rain have hindered restoration work in the remaining feeders.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2018